Parts and Labor: A Survey Exhibition of Print and Collage Works by Steven Ford

April 22–July 9

Steven Ford layers colors via simply carved linocut blocks and collagraph plates. The linocut blocks are often re-inked and reprinted with the paper shifted to create layering and cross hatched patterns. The collagraph plates print “real” textures from items such as popsicle sticks and lathe from old plaster walls. Steven works quickly, rolling ink onto the blocks and cranking them through an etching press. At times the thin, strong Asian papers are folded like an accordion bellows and printed, then flattened and printed some more.

Luminous Forms: Marble and Bronze Sculpture by Shelley Robzen

April 22–July 16

Shelley Robzen’s sculpture is amazing in its purity and its celebration of beauty and craftsmanship. She has a sophisticated sense of form, volume and line. Her sculptures are sensual and sensitive. They are pared down to an essential simplicity. Her sculpture is included in private collections in the United States, Italy, France, England, Canada, Norway, Hong Kong, Israel and Japan. Shelley, represented by Carla Massoni Gallery, is appearing in her first American solo museum exhibition at the Academy Art Museum.

Todd Forsgren: Birdwatcher and Ecologist

April 22–May 30

Todd R. Forsgren uses photography to examine themes of ecology, environmentalism, and perceptions of landscape while striving to strike a balance between art history and natural history. To do so, Todd uses a range of photographic approaches, from documentary strategies to experimental techniques. His work has been shown at numerous venues and has been featured in National Geographic, Nature and TIME’s Lightbox, to name a few.

Mid-Shore Student Art Exhibition and The American Society of Marine Artists 17th National Exhibition continues through April 2.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Cocktails and Canvas

Thursday, April 20, 6–8 p.m.

Bring your energy and creativity and enjoy two cocktails while painting.

LECTURES

The Farmers’ George: Washington, the King and the Agricultural Landscape

Bruce Ragsdale, Fellow, Georgian Papers Programme

Friday, April 28, 6 p.m.

Inspired by the British literature of agricultural improvement, George Washington and King George III simultaneously undertook experimental agricultural projects that they hoped would serve as a model for the farmers of their respective nations. Drawing on documents in the Royal Collections and on Washington’s own surveys of his farms, this lecture will explore how these two national leaders embodied the ideals of agricultural innovation shared by wealthy landowners on both sides of the Atlantic.

Senior Curator Anke van Wagenberg has a PhD from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam and has published widely on Dutch and Flemish painting. You bring lunch, we provide the art! Join us for a mini-course in Art History based on works in the Permanent Collection of the Academy Art Museum. See Canaletto, Turner and Picasso from our Permanent Collection in the room. These original artworks are placed in context as you sit back, relax and eat your lunch while enjoying the textbook-free slide lecture.

ARTS EXPRESS BUS TRIPS: RENWICK GALLERY

Voulkos: The Breakthrough Years

Wednesday, April 12

Voulkos: The Breakthrough Years, is the first exhibition to focus on the early career of Peter Voulkos, from 1953–1968. While trained as a traditional potter, Voulkos’ radical methods and ideas during this period opened up the possibilities for ceramics in ways that are still being felt today. The exhibition will feature approximately 35 examples from this crucial body of early work, most of which have not been exhibited on the East Coast for four decades. Also included will be two of the artist’s rarely seen works in oil on canvas, which help to demonstrate how Voulkos developed his ideas concurrently in painting, sculpture and pottery.

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDENS

Infinity Mirrors—Yayoi Kusama Retropsective

Thursday, April 27

The Hirshhorn’s exhibition is the first to focus on this groundbreaking body of work and will present six of the rooms, the most ever shown together. From peep-show-like chambers to multimedia installations, each of these kaleidoscopic environments offers the chance to step into an illusion of infinite space. Kusama began using mirrors in 1965 when she produced Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field, transforming the intense repetition of her earlier two-dimensional works into a perceptual experience.